1st frag tank

[bobt2]

anthony, i attended your talk on long island and want to start my first frag tank. it will be for softys. i will use a 30 gal tank. i,m going with 6500k lights only as i believe you said was the best for growth. i'll use a p/h for flow. if i'm not feeding them do i need a skimmer? i of course will do regular water changes. thanks bob

 

[NotherFrickingL]

He has a book (Book of Coral Propagation) that you should get, but typically you should have a skimmer on any tank.

 

[bobt2]

thanks, i have the book. but their just frags and in a bare tank with no feeding. whats there to skim? i/m also going to run a hob filter with just carbon

 

[jetaero]

You should not run a skimmer on that tank, mainly because it will remove the nutrients that the corals like too quickly, and also, it will be an added cost to run it. In the words of Anthony, in his presentation yesterday, it's much easier to buy sea salt, than an expensive skimmer.

-Josh-

 

[bobt2]

see, thats my thinking. i also had the crazy thoughts to do water changes with the water i take out of the main tank, because of the nutrients

 

[NotherFrickingL]

I have only been doing this for a few years but every time I have allowed nutrient levels to start climbing in my tanks, seems stuff turns brown (sps especially) Feeding the inhabitants has always been a big plus to growth but the water quality seemed to have profound effects on the "visual" appeal of most items. Probably just a freak of my tank setup I guess

 

[CarlaW]

Is there a way you can connect it to the main system?

 

[bobt2]

no, i can't connect it to the main tank, and it will only be softys i frag.

 

[jetaero]

I have only been doing this for a few years but every time I have allowed nutrient levels to start climbing in my tanks, seems stuff turns brown (sps especially) Feeding the inhabitants has always been a big plus to growth but the water quality seemed to have profound effects on the "visual" appeal of most items. Probably just a freak of my tank setup I guess

You can attain this by doing water changes as well...

-Josh-

 

[Anthony Calfo]

for the size of this tank... oh, yeah... save your money on skimmers and supplements and employ large weekly water changes and a better tank for it

 

[NotherFrickingL]

I have run 50% and up changes for a long time, and it seems to keep all the chemicals in balance and (should I say) I rarely test water parameters as they always test the same 0/0/0 and my ph with kalk stays 8.1-8.4 (that does have a pinpoint monitor)

I think I save about $100 a year on test kits, maybe $200 or more on supplements.
My salt cost is of course higher than the guys that do very small changes but I make it up on the above stuff I think and my tank stays happy

 

[morgan]

so what lights are u gonna run cause ive thougt of this aswell and i would like to see how a coral only tank with a couple of softys
i have a tank to do this but not the light equipment
i was thinking if u were just running filter in tank that they would be good for the phs if u dont need a skimmer and with weekly water changes from my bigger system which has good water quality

 

[bobt2]

i was back and forth on the lighting, but i just got a deal on a tec 4x39 t-5 fixture

 

[NotherFrickingL]

I was considering a prop tank that fits under a spare T5 fixture I have at 24X36, question is depth. I see no real point in making this thing 18" deep (except for water volume). What would be a minimal depth for a tank like this? (purely for grow out)

 

[Anthony Calfo]

at least 8" and not more than 16" IMO

10-12" sounds about right to me for best use of (this) light with typical hobby species.

 

[NotherFrickingL]

Thanks .....